SC FAIL and NY ALMOST half-way there!

South Carolina = FAIL!
Last weekend I was unable to complete my South Carolina  marathon as the race was cancelled due to "bad weather." (see picture below of the oh so ominous weather conditions).

I'm happy that this happened in early 2009 as I still have a chance to run the race again next year (if I choose to take my chances) before my goal time to complete the 50 states. Running 2 to 3 marathons a month, you're likely to miss one either by your own faul (missed planes, injury, sickness) or by the fault of the race (cancelled, time issues, etc.). I'm hoping this is my 1 miss and I'll be good going forward (knock on wood!)

I'm a little UNhappy because this weekend is supposed to be my 25th state and we'll be having a "Halfway There" post-race party. Nowwww it will be my (Almost) Halfway There party.

New York Almost Halfway There!
I'll be making my way home for my 24th state--- New York!!!! I'm originally from the Albany area and the race is in Albany. This marathon is TINY with no medals or post race party, so we'll be making our own little post-race action! (more to come in my race RUNdown) If you're running the marathon or relay and would like to join let me know and I'll send you the flier!

I'm definitely excited to go home and have some serious spectators from my hometown and family! I have a good feeling that after this past weekend, Albany is going to be a great race, because....

"I’m from the empire state that’s

[Chorus]

In New York,

Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,

There’s nothing you can’t do,

Now you’re in New York..."

1 More thing! Suzy (who will also be participating in the Albany marathon on a relay) tagged me yesterday with this SuNsHiNe AwArD!

I guess it's my turn to tag 12 buddies that bring me sunshine with their blogs and leave them a comment, so here goes...

1) Marlene - My fav Canadian for always being so positive and happy-- and esp. for posting the Olympic medal count on her running blog!! GO USA! And go Canada for their first home gold medals!

2) Mel - For not going crazy while keeping track of a few hundred runners making their way to 1000 miles in 2010!

3) Heather - For sticking with her run this saturday following the cancellation of the Myrtle Beach half marathon.

4) Jill, Rick, Libby, Ewa, Emily, Shut Up and Run    for their kind words and support immediately following my Sat morning wake up call to NO snow and a cancelled marathon! I was bummed, but it was nice to have bloggie friends that were so encouraging! 
5) Marcia - For a great blog to follow and always being so encouraging!
6) B.O.B and Morgan - Yeah, I know I call them out all the time for hilarious run-blogging! They're going to start thinking I'm some sort of crazy run/blog stalker soon! Oh well-- still hilarious-- go read up!

Marathon Spirit Shines at the Cancelled Myrtle Beach Marathon!

I thought flying into MB was going to be the more difficult part of this trip. Our flight was cancelled, but somehow we managed to get rebooked on a once "full" flight leaving at 10:30pm. Once we got on the plane and shut the doors the pilot announced that there would be a long wait for a spot to get de-iced. 2.5 hours later we finally took off!!! What's worse? As soon as we got on the plane, myself and several dozen other marathoners get an email saying... the marathon has been cancelled due to "unsafe" weather conditions.

Marathon Spirit!

They took down the mile signs and water stop. They opened the roads up to the cars and told the spectators the race was off. But what did you find this morninig? ... HUNDREDS of half, full, and relay team marathon runners all around the marathon course-- some still running the FULL marathon! The city could call the race off, but they can't stop us from doing our sport!!! There were cars following runners with water, cups, and GU. There were spectators coming out and yelling "good for you!" to the runners!









The "Unsafe conditions":

Right! When I went out to run at 9am the roads and sidewalks were COMPLETELY clear or snow or ice. But 10am it was WARM outside and I had ot shed layers. To the right you can see my "I'm so scared of the HORRIBLE weather conditions" face as I stand on a dry sidewalk and clear road. Hmmm. The city of Myrtle Beach and I need to have a chat!!!

I caught up with some of the marathon runners actually running the marathon on their own. Some started at the 7:00am start and some just started from their hotels on the loop-- they came here to run 26.2 miles and they were going to run 26.2 miles. One woman I ran with was crankin and when I finally looked at my watch I realized I had run over 1.5 extra miles out. Oops. So ~11 miles later I'm back and ready to enjoy Myrtle Beach!

Myrtle Beach Marathon~ Race RUNdown (SC#24)

We're seen some serious drama here at Steph's 50 Marathon Challenge since my January Frozen Double Marathon Weekend. I nearly froze to death in both races, fell in the second marathon banging my knee, and then purposely ran with an extremely overpronated right foot because that was the only position my knee felt good in. Well that turned into tendentious on the tendon that runs under your foot and keeps you from overpronating (yeah, ok). Since then, I've felt better-- but I went for a 17-miler this past weekend in the snow and ice and I think FROZE my achilles on the same foot. It's been a little crazy, but I'm hoping for that "bad practice makes a great performance" kind of situation... or at least not getting hurt and finishing able to run my 25th-state marathon next week!!!!



Inspiration Points...
1. Warmth!!! I will finally be running in warmer weather-- high 40's with SUN! I've been hurting myself in the cold, so I'm hoping the warmth keeps my muscles loose and warm!
2. Kyle will be joinging me since it's Valentines Day Weekend :) He's been to 2 marathons and is an exceptional marathon spectator! We'll be taking a vacation day and be making a trip out of Myrtle Beach!!
3. NEW SHOES!!! If you've been reading along, I've had quite the little jaunt with new sneakers, throwing myself into "barefoot running." I won't be going all out and using the vibrams, but I will be using the next step up-- Nike Free 5.0's!
4. FINALLY excited. It's so hard to be excited for a marathon when you're full of nerves about being/getting hurt. I'm feeling better and hoping to keep up a positive attitude about the race! OOH maybe I should read "Born to Run" again-- that gets my blood pumpin!

SC Race RUNdown...
Bi-Lo Myrtle Beach Marathon ~ Saturday Feb 13, 2010 (#24)
Myrtle Beach, SC
Registration Fees: $70 early ($90 late, $110)--SOLD OUT before Feb!!!
Year Running: 10+
2010 Expected Field: 2,750 was max and it's been sold out. There will be another 3.8K in the half!
2009 Field: 1825 Finishers
... Females: 684 ... Age Group: 61
2008 Avg. Finish Time: 4:25:54
Weather:

Well I WAS excited about warm weather but now it looks like it's going to be a litttttle chilly. NOT as bad as the last 2. WHY can't we have Sundays weather on Saturday??? It would be PERFECT! Let's all pray to the weather gods and hope that it warms up in the am and we get rain showers instead or no showers at all! At least I know it won't be hot and sunny :)

Course:

MarathonGuide Rating:

Garmin Distance: I try and look at what people measure the course as. I've seen about a +.16 to +.25 extra mileage for this race. That's a big gap compared to what I've seen in the past!

FLAT! I'm not a pancake flat runner, but maybe this will be good considering all the achilles problems I've been having! The course looks to wrap around the hotels, small neighborhoods and the OCEAN!!! Yay.

This is one comment I found on MarathonGuide:

"As flat as you could want, and not congested at all; there's no excuse for not hitting a PB here" -- wow, no pressure there!

Race 411: This is definitely an EVENT-- not just a marathon. They've been sending an endless number of emails for pre and post race events. There are fireworks the night after as well as 2 different post race parties- one for adults only!

~ Gone Green! As of 2009 this is a "green" marathon.

~ Swag has been kicked up a notch! Due to prior year complaints, there was a resounding response from the race directors with great new swag. Can't wait to see what they have in store for 2010.

~ Port-O-Pots ~ every 2 miles! yesssss

~ Spectators, I've heard, are far and few between but I can't imagine you need them when you're running on the BEACH!!!!!

~ Chip Issues??? Say it ain't so!!! Last year there were some timing chip issues. People had finished and their splits counted, but they had DNFs when they had finished. Yikes-- no thanks! I will kill somebody if that happens. If you read their news articles before the race this is what they had to say...

"The Myrtle Beach Marathon and RMS Sports are proud to announce the use of a new timing system. We will be using the Chronotrack system, which promises 99.8% accuracy." - MB Marathon Site. Maybe they should have stuck with the OLD timing system.

Race Plan: I have a 3 step plan for this race...

1) DON'T Get hurt... or further hurt!

2) Enjoy the race and the weekend

3) Go for time! This is my first of 5 in 7 weeks, so I'll be too tired to push it toward the end. If I can make a good time here without getting hurt, I'll go for it!

Give-a-ways:
Athlete's Spa Pack!